Man-Thing
Man-Thing is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Theodore Sallis
Sallis later came to be hired as a government contractor where he began working on a project involved in creating a variation of the lost Super-Soldier Serum. (Savage Tales v1 #1) At one point, he treated and worked alongside Dr. Curtis Connors shortly after his arm was amputated driving the research that would eventually transform Connors into the Lizard. Meeting Connors at the hospital, the two began discussing nano-scaffolding and Ted's attempts to create 'Captain America 2.0', a project that aimed at re-creating the lost Super-Soldier Serum that had created Captain America. While unable to afford to hire Curt once they returned stateside, Ted still aided him in his cell regeneration research, which soon led Connors towards using lizard DNA. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #6) Afterwards, Sallis fell in love with one of his students, Ellen Brandt, and the pair eloped following a secret affair. After their honeymoon, they visited the fortune teller Madam Swabada, who foretold a catastrophic change. (Giant-Size Man-Thing v1 #5)
With the transformation of Ted Sallis into Man-Thing virtually unknown to the world at large, two of his former colleagues, Barbara Morse and Paul Allen, brought in Ka-Zar to try and track him down. At the same time AIM returned once again to try and obtain Sallis' formula. A.I.M. captured Man-Thing in a pit after Ka-Zar had begun to follow him. Confronting A.I.M, Ka-Zar fell into the pit and after a short fight in which Man-Thing had the upper hand, Man-Thing was then knocked out by AIM. Going in to kill the pair, they were saved by Zabu. Pulling the unconscious Man-Thing out of the pit, the duo took him back to the lab where they discovered that Paul and Wilma have been captured by AIM. While Ka-Zar leaves, Man-Thing slipped through his bars and followed them to A.I.M.s secret base. After discovering the truth about Paul working for AIM, Man-Thing busted through the wall of the base and rescued Ka-Zar. After everyone gets out, Man-Thing blows up the base with him inside. (Astonishing Tales v1 #13)
Fear
It was during this time Man-Thing first met the young witch Jennifer Kale and her brother, Andrew Kale when they accidentally summoned Thog the Nether-Spawn using the Tome of Zhered-Na. Initially unaware they had done so, the Kales returned to their town of Citrusville while being followed by Thog and Man-Thing. Confronting Thog, Man-Thing was initially able to destroy its original host before being summoned fully. Returning the fight to the swamp, Thog was thrown back into his home dimension of Sominus. (Fear v1 #11) Thog returned to seek revenge by bringing Man-Thing to his home dimension and offered him the chance to become human once more if he killed the Kale family. Refusing to do so, Sallis was then reverted back to Man-Thing and Thog was apparently destroyed. The Kales then realized they were still in the swamp and everything was an illusion that Man-Thing only manages to break when he realized that his touch wasn’t burning someone who knew fear. (Fear v1 #13) The Kales observed strange outbreaks of violence due to the takeover of human minds and souls by demons of the underworld. Deciding to assemble the cult, they prepare a ritual that they hope will block the demons' entry to the Earth realm. Jennifer Kale and the Man-Thing disappeared and reappeared in chains in an otherworldly dimension. Here they met Dakimh the Enchanter, who needed to recover the Tome of Zhered-Na, the tome used to originally summon Thog. Dakimh was aware of the demonic invasion of Earth and told Jennifer that the Man-Thing is the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities. As the guardian, Man-Thing can prevent the doorways between worlds from being opened but must survive a trial by combat. The Man-Thing is forced to fight a barbarian Mongu. Mongu's battle-axe was ineffective against the Man-Thing, and the swamp monster fought back with his burning touch, winning the fight. Dakimh returned Jennifer and the Man-Thing to the swamp. (Fear v1 #14) For unknown reasons, Man-Thing ran amok in the city. Man-Thing then seemingly dropped dead and was soon taken to the Kale home, Joshua Kale told everyone the origins of the Tome of Zhered-Na, which has its origins stemming from Ancient Atlantis. Dakimh appeared and takes Jennifer and Man-Thing to an extra-dimensional nexus to try and recover the Tome, battling various forces of the demons of Sominus in the process. When the cult members are captured, Jennifer and Man-Thing worked together to secure the book and restore reality to normal, freeing the captured cultists. All are transported back to Earth, including a demon Man-Thing was fighting. Once back in the swamp Man-Thing is easily able to overpower the demon. With everything restored to normal, the Tome vanished, and Man-Thing returned to the swamp, his bond with Jennifer seemingly severed. (Fear v1 #15)
Man-Thing continued his surreal odyssey through the Florida Everglades and into mystical dimensions, acting as a silent, empathic protector for the young sorceress Jennifer Kale. After being pulled into a confrontation involving the ancient Tome of Zhered-Na, the creature found himself battling the Cry of the Native, a monstrous personification of the swamp’s collective pain and vengeful spirits. Man-Thing moved with his characteristic, sludge-like persistence, shrugging off physical blows that would have killed a mortal and responding with a mindless, instinctive ferocity whenever Jennifer was threatened. As the conflict reached a fever pitch, he sensed the overwhelming fear and hatred radiating from his opponent, triggering his bio-chemical reaction which caused his touch to burn the spirit-monster with intense, mystical heat. Despite his lack of human intellect, Man-Thing functioned as an anchor for the group, standing his ground against the demonic forces of Thog the Nether-Spawn and navigating the shifting realities of the Nexus of All Realities with a singular focus on the presence of the tome. By the end of the struggle, he had successfully helped secure the sacred text, though he remained a tragic figure, drifting back into the mists of the swamp as the temporary adrenaline of battle faded into his usual state of swamp-bound lethargy. (Fear v1 #16)
His first interaction with a super-powered being was by awakening Wundarr, an alien who had been sent to earth to escape his dying world as a baby. Some time passed before his discovery and Wundarr soon grew to adulthood without any education. Assuming each was being attacked by the other, Man-Thing and Wundarr fought until Man-Thing left and rejected Wundarr's desire for Man-Thing to be his mother. (Fear v1 #17)
Man-Thing drifted back into the mundane yet equally dangerous reality of the Florida Everglades, where he became the unwitting target of Yagzan and his fanatical, entropy-worshipping cult, the Congress of Realities. As the cultists attempted to summon their dark deity through a ritual that threatened to unravel the local fabric of space-time, the creature was drawn to the overwhelming scent of fanaticism and terror emanating from their hidden temple. He moved through the dense foliage like a force of nature, effortlessly smashing through the cult's barricades and ignoring the gunfire of the panicked guards, whose fear only served to stoke the internal chemical fires that made his touch lethal. Upon confronting Yagzan, the Man-Thing sensed the man’s delusions of grandeur shifting into a cold, paralyzing dread, allowing the swamp-giant to seize the leader and inflict the agonizing burn of his empathic reaction. As the temple began to collapse under the weight of the botched ritual, the Man-Thing remained indifferent to the structural ruin around him, focused only on the immediate threat to the Nexus of All Realities which he instinctively guarded. Once the cult was scattered and their leader was consumed by his own terror, the creature slogged away from the smouldering wreckage, returning to the silent solitude of the marsh as the 'muck-monster' legend grew even more feared by the local populace. (Fear v1 #18)
Man-Thing was one of the many heroes involved in defending the earth from the hordes of the Dark Dimension when Dormammu attempted to invade the Earth. (Avengers v1 #118)
Man-Thing then teamed up with The Thing to take down the Molecule Man's 'son' after he appeared in his swamp. The Thing had initially arrived due to him feeling that Man-Thing had stolen his name. During the initial confrontation Molecule Man turned both Thing and Man-Thing back into their human form, before attempting to teleport but could not teleport past the swamp due to the Nexus. Ted was unable to remember anything past the accident and the pair traveled to Citrusville, where they fought the Molecule Man. Turning the pair back to their monstrous forms, Man-Thing attacked the Thing and using the Man-Thing's swamp mud, the Molecule Man was defeated. (Marvel Two-In-One v1 #1)
Man-Thing found himself on a strange world below a floating castle where he was picked up by Jennifer Kale, with the savage Korrek following from behind. Korrek caught up with Kale and the Man-Thing and attacked the two of them. However, this appeared to be nothing more than a dream of Jennifer Kale. Korrek was transported to Earth's dimension through a jar of peanut butter and resumed his attack on Jennifer. However, when Joshua and Andy burst into the room, Korrek believed himself surrounded and fled into the swamp. The Kales were soon visited by Dakimh the Enchanter who has come to tell the Kales about the disruption in the Nexus of All Realities caused by the construction being done in the swamp. He has also come to train Jennifer in his mystical knowledge and reveals the dream world is just a different place and people are often teleported there. Meanwhile, in the swamp, Korrek met the Man-Thing. Attacking the creature in a fury, he once again saw that no matter what he did, he could not harm the Man-Thing and so he stopped fighting. While lamenting over his plight, Korrek was visited by Howard the Duck, who had also found himself transported to Earth's dimension as well. Howard and Korrek teamed up to find a way back to their respective realities. Traveling through the swamp with Man-Thing in tow, Korrek was compelled to go to the F.A. Schist construction site after hearing a blood-curdling scream. Spotting Demons attacking the site, the Demons soon turned their attention towards Man-Thing, Korrek, and Howard and closed in for the kill. (Fear v1 #18)
During the Cotati invasion, the Man-Thing came to fall under the control of one of the alien invaders named Ventri who was operating in the Savage Land. (Empyre: Avengers v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In his original human form, he was noted for being Ted Sallis. (Savage Tales v1 #1) Due to his legacy, he was referred to as the Man of the Lineage. (Man-Thing v3 #8) He came to also be known as the Bog Beast. (Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing v1 #1) Whilst those that feared him called him the Swamp Monster. (Marvel Comics Presents v2 #12) To the superstitious, he was called the Swamp-God. (Man-Thing v3 #7)
At University, Ellen met her future professor Ted Sallis where the two fell in love with one another. At 19 years old, she ran off and eloped with Ted where they began living as a married couple. (Giant-Size Man-Thing v1 #5)
In their time together, Ellen Brandt came to be pregnant with Ted Sallis's child. However, at the time she discovered this, her husband had been transformed into the Man-Thing and she was scared of him. By this point, Ellen was too emotionally damaged to look after a child and gave up the child for adoption. The child was a son who came to be known as Job Burke. (Man-Thing v3 #5)
A trimming from the Man-Thing came to be stolen by the Shadow Colonel that was cultivated into a separate organism that was called the Boy-Thing. The diminutive creature was kept as a symbiotic pet who attached himself to the body of a host and generated plant matter such as wooden stakes as a weapon against his master. (Avengers v8 #15)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Ted Sallis was an ordinary human being with no inherent special abilities or powers. (Savage Tales v1 #1)
He researching the SO-2 Serum that was being developed by Project: Sulphur. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) In this role, he was charged with recreating the lost Super-Soldier Serum as a government contractor. (Savage Tales v1 #1) According to one account, Dr. Salis bargained for from the demonic sorcerer Belasco of Limbo that created a mystical component to the serum. (X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing v1 #1)
When thieves looked to steal his Super-Soldier Serum, Dr. Sallis injected it into himself when his vehicle crashed into the swamp. This saw the serum in his bloodstream where it interfaced with the surrounding vegetation and transformed him into a mindless shambling muck-monster that came to be known as the Man-Thing. (Savage Tales v1 #1)
Hank Pym expressed the view that the Man-Thing was sentient, but admitted that it was difficult to communicate with him. (Thunderbolts v1 #144)
The porous form was resistant to most physical attacks because it was not entirely solid with a fist or a bullet usually pass right through it. (Red She-Hulk v1 #66) The malleability of his body allowed him to pass through many fences by oozing through the gaps in the chain links. (Astonishing Tales v1 #13)
He was able to remake his body even when believed to be near death and can form tendrils to seek out any matter with which to aid his regeneration. (Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing v1 #1)
It was shown that he could easily grab a grown man and shattering their spine against his knee. (Savage Tales v1 #1) The Man-Thing was shown to be able to lift an automobile. (Man-Thing v1 #1)
It was said that his might was limitless as he was the living embodiment of the Earth's life-force. (Avengers v8 #23)
One consequence of his transformation was he gained an empathetic connection to all humans. As a response, feelings of fear produced a swelling of rage within him. (Savage Tales v1 #1)
The Man-Thing was able to generate a corrosive substance from the pores of his body such as his hands when exposed to fear. Thus, anyone that felt fear when in contact with the Man-Thing was burnt badly from this acidic material whether they were friend or foe. It was this reason that it was said that whoever knew fear burnt at the touch of the Man-Thing. (Savage Tales v1 #1)
When fuelled by enough fear, Man-Thing was able to grow to monolithic proportions. (Fear Itself: Fearsome Four v1 #1)
As the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities, the Man-Thing is the virtual embodiment of the time and space effect centered on the Nexus area and can open portals to other realities. (Red She-Hulk v1 #66)
After being granted the power of speech, Man-Thing came to speak the universal language of X'zelzi'ohr. (Dark Avengers v1 #176)
During the Phoenix Force's tournament, Man-Thing became empowered by a portion of its power. He was stripped of this boost after losing to the Black Panther, which disqualified him from the contest. (Avengers v8 #41)
Notes
- Man-Thing was created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow where he made his first appearance in Savage Tales v1 #1 (May, 1971).
- In Alter Ego v1 #81 (2008), Thomas came to recount that in 2002, "Stan Lee called me in; it would've been late '70 or early '71. [...] He had a couple of sentences or so for the concept – I think it was mainly the notion of a guy working on some experimental drug or something for the government, his being accosted by spies, and getting fused with the swamp so that he becomes this creature. The creature itself sounds a lot like the Heap, but neither of us mentioned that character at the time.... I didn't care much for the name 'Man-Thing', because we already had the Thing [of the superhero team the Fantastic Four], and I thought it would be confusing to also have another one called Man-Thing."
- Wein was Conway's roommate at the time and as Thomas [recalled in 2008, "Gerry and I thought that, unconsciously, the origin in Swamp Thing #1 was a bit too similar to the origin of Man-Thing a year-and-a-half earlier. There was vague talk at the time around Marvel of legal action, but it was never really pursued. I don't know if any letters even changed hands between Marvel and DC. [...] We weren't happy with the situation over the Swamp Thing #1 origin, but we figured it was an accident. Gerry was rooming with Len at the time and tried to talk him into changing the Swamp Thing's origin. Len didn't see the similarities, so he went ahead with what he was going to do. The two characters [di]verged off after that origin, so it didn't make much difference, anyway."
Alternate Versions
- In Ultimate Marvel Team Up v1 #10 (2001), an alternate version of Man-Thing appeared in the Ultimate Marvel reality that was designated as Earth-1610 in the Multiverse.
In other media
Television
- In Werewolf by Night, the Man-Thing appeared in the setting of the live-action television special set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where motion-capture was provided by actor Carey Jones and additional vocalizations by actor Jeffrey Ford.
Films
- In Man-Thing, the Man-Thing appeared in the setting of the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Conan Stevens.
Video games
Appearances
- Savage Tales v1: (1971)
- Fear v1:
- Man-Thing v1:
- Giant-Size Man-Thing v1:
- Web of Spider-Man v2:
- Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing v1:
- Thunderbolts:
- Dark Avengers v1:
- Empyre: Avengers v1:
- X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing v1:
External Links
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